The Argentina World Cup winner opened the scoring from close range in the 15th minute when he was the quickest to react to Erling Haaland’s effort that rebounded off the crossbar.
He thought he had a second with City’s fourth in the second half, but the goal was credited to Cherries’ defender Chris Mapham, who deflected his strike into the back of the net.
But former City striker Dickov was full of praise for Alvarez’s all-round performance in helping Pep Guardiola’s side keep the pressure on leaders Arsenal at the top of the Premier League.
“You can just tell he’s a selfless player and his team-mates love him for it, but he’s got a lot of quality as well,” said Dickov, who was a guest on our Matchday Live show.
“His goals to minutes ratio is really impressive. He’s a World Cup winner and so young and whenever he comes onto the pitch he makes an impact.
“I’m disappointed for Alvarez about getting the own goal. The defender doesn’t want the own goal, Alvarez wants the goal so just give it to him!”
Alvarez was one of two Argentinians on show at the Vitality Stadium with 20-year-old midfielder Maximo Perrone making his first-team debut.
Perrone came on for the last 20 minutes with City already holding a four-goal and Dickov was impressed by the former River Plate player’s cameo.
“He looked really, really comfortable when he came onto the pitch,” he said.
“Great awareness – every time the ball came anywhere near him, he was checking his shoulder to see who was there. A couple of little one-touch passes, one-twos, he looked very good.
“It can be difficult coming on in a game like that, especially when you’re away from home and cruising.”
Guardiola used all of his substitutions including introducing Kalvin Phillips for Rodri in the 55th minute.
The England international was booked in a tigerish second half performance and Dickov believes he was just keen to impress.
“Kalvin has not had a lot of minutes,” he said. “I think he was perhaps just a little bit over eager when he came on which is probably why he picked up his booking and made another couple of fouls.
“But then he showed his experience after that by settling himself down and if he made another couple of fouls he would have been in danger of getting a second yellow card.”
MATCHDAY LIVE
Matchday Live is our City-centric show aired around every match that Pep Guardiola‘s side play.
Starting an hour ahead of kick-off with team news first and fast, our special guests talk through their predictions for the game ahead and discuss wider City topics.
They also have plenty of fun, playing games and quizzes with a City theme.
Guests in recent weeks have included former City stars like Joleon Lescott, Gareth Barry, Martin O’Neill, Darius Vassell as well as players for the Club’s other sides including Steph Houghton and Esme Morgan.
They return at half-time and after the final whistle to give their take on what they have seen.
Matchday Live returns on Tuesday for our FA Cup fifth round clash with Bristol City.
It is available to watch on mancity.com, our official app and the Club’s official YouTube channel.
